Padres 10, Yanks 2

The Yanks can’t come from behind to win all the time. Trailing by three runs, they loaded the bases with no out in the bottom of the sixth and came away with just one run. The Pads blew the game apart late, capped by a three-run bomb off the bat of Phil Nevins. Thank you, Gabe White.

It was the first game I had to walk away from all season. Mostly it was a result of my having had a long, irritating week. I poured all of my frustrations into the game, and it wasn’t long after Mussina left that I sunk into a deep funk. (Hey, just because I’m a Yankee fan, and am sperled silly, doesn’t mean I’m don’t get nuts like every other red-blooded baseball fan.) Emily, who has an easier time digesting the Yankees’ failures, was busy sorting my jar of loose change into packets to bring to the bank. After the sixth, I took myself a nice long walk; I needed to cool off and relax. I got home in time to see Nevins blast and discover that the Dodgers weren’t worth half a shit in Boston last night, losing a close one, 2-1 (Cookie strikes again).

But it is an absolutely gorgeous day this afternoon. Mussina may or may not have to miss a start, but his injury doesn’t appear to be dire. According to the Times:

“I don’t know right now,” Mussina said of whether he will have to miss a start. He added: “I’m not concerned about it. It doesn’t bother me to walk or do anything else. It’s just stretching down the mound. I’ll let the guys take care of it here, and we’ll see how we do in a couple of days.”

The results on Kevin Brown’s came back, and he too may not have to miss more than a start or two:

Brown said he was relieved, but still uncertain of his immediate future. “You just know in your mind something is going on, but if you’re not having debilitating pain, it’s kind of hard not to make yourself go out there and do it,” he said. “The other day it became very obvious in my mind that it was definitely affecting the way I was throwing the ball.” (Times)

Brown is more of concern than Mussina. But let’s be real. We know that sooner or later, there will be another starting pitcher with the team, and possibly another bullpen arm too (and I don’t just mean El Duque and Karsay from Queens).

Jon Lieber pitches this afternoon, a 4:00 pm start. Considering the fact that there isn’t a cloud in the sky, the late afternoon light will be acute and brilliant later on. Wait til the shadows start to creep toward the middle of the game. It should be a good one. But I’m going to miss it. I’m out of the crib all day and was planning on recording it, but decided it wouldn’t be the worst thing for me to miss a game entirely. I can catch the highlights late tonight. A little detox never hurt anyone. Plus, I’m going to meet up with Cliff Corcoran, Jay Jaffe, Alex Ciepley, and Mike C to catch Chris Karhl and Steve Goldman at their BP/PB feed at the Coliseum this evening anyhow. I’m sure there will be a bunch of other cool nerds there–I hope my man Derek Jacques shows up–so I’m a be plenty deep in baseball regardless.